THE Los Angeles Lakers took care of business at home, dominating the Phoenix Suns, 101-73, to clinch a home-court edge for the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs.
LeBron James put up 28 points, 12 assists and six rebounds for the short-handed Lakers, who are missing the services of leading scorer Luka Doncic and reliable shooter Austin Reaves at the Crypto.Com Arena in California on Saturday, April 11, 2026 (PH time).
The Lakers improved to 52-29 (win-loss) slate and are guaranteed of no lower than fourth place in the Western Conference, which comes with a home-court advantage in a first-round playoff series.
Los Angeles remains one game behind the third-place Denver Nuggets (53-28) with one game to play and the former owns the tiebreaker edge.
The 41-year-old James also recorded his 12,000th career assists in the game, becoming only the fourth NBA player to reach the milestone.
Luke Kennard scored 19 points and Rui Hachimura added 13 for the Lakers, who are finishing the regular season without injured stars Doncic and Reaves.
Dillon Brooks made 12 points for the Suns, who are seventh in the West with a 44-37 record and locked into the top spot in the play-in tournament.
Devin Booker sat out for Phoenix to rest his injured right ankle for the postseason and Jalen Green also sat with right knee soreness. / RSC
